e1000e on linux-2.4 and gcc2

Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 14:46:58 +0200 (CEST)
From: Robert M. Stockmann <stock DeleteThis @stokkie.net>
To: support DeleteThis @supermicro.com
Subject: Version 2.4.37.5 of Crash Recovery Kit for Linux (fwd)

Dear Support Dept,

With the below recovery/ migration tool [1] i was able to migrate a old
redhat 7.3 installation from a near dead Tyan machine to the SuperMicro
X7SB3-F inside a SuperMicro SC813M , expanded with a 3Ware 9690SA
SAS/SATA PCIe Controller. The only thing needed was a rebuild/update of
the linux-2.4 kernel to version 2.4.37.5 patched with Intel driver
v0.5.11.2, for Intel(R) PRO/1000 PCIe Gigabit, e1000e.o, which i
adjusted to compile with gcc-2.95.3 on the linux-2.4 i386 platform.
Also added was the 3Ware 3w-9xxx v2.4-9.5.1, supporting the 3Ware
9690SA SAS/SATA PCIe.

I must say that your Intel Xeon based offerings supply a lot
of bang for the buck, while maintaining a rock-solid server
product.

Best Regards,

Robert
PS. Because e1000e.o falls back to legacy interrupts, bypassing
the complicated PCIe NAPI structure from linux-2.6 and
also bypassing the MSI and MSI-X interrupt work-queue
patch-work, I believe i may have running here the Dual Intel® 82574L
PCI-E Gigabit LAN devices as real-time Gigabit. At least the result
feels rock-solid here. Network stress tests on Gigabit switch
backbones and teaming bonding the two e1000e.o devices is what i
cannot perform here. Maybe your department can put this raw real-time
Gigabit, driver to the test.

PS. The diff to the e1000e-0.5.11.2.tar.gz driver by Intel can be found
here :
http://crashrecovery.org/CrashRecoveryKit/iso/2.4.37.5/e1000e-0.5.11.2...c2-linu

[1] Version 2.4.37.5 of Crash Recovery Kit for Linux
http://lwn.net/Articles/350345/
--
Robert M. Stockmann - RHCE
Network Engineer - UNIX/Linux Specialist
crashrecovery.org stock DeleteThis @stokkie.net